SCIENCE 



Friday, March 7, 1913 

 contents 



Physics and Daily Life: PROrEssOR C. E. 

 Mann 351 



On the Appearance of Helium and Neon in 

 Vacuum Tubes: Professor J. J. Thomson 360 



The Smithsonian African Expedition 364 



The Institute of Arts and Sciences of Co- 

 lumbia University 365 



Scientific Notes and News 366 



University and Educational News 368 



Discussion and Correspondence: — 



Cytological Nomenclature: Professor C. E. 

 McClung. a Suggested Classification of 

 Writings on Eugenics: Dr. C. B. Daven- 

 port. Equine Piropla-smosis in the Canal 

 Zone: S. T. Darling. A Bequest from the 

 American Society of Naturalists: Pro- 

 fessor Bradlet Mooee Davis. Facts about 

 the Accounts of Learned Societies: Pro- 

 fessor Simon N. Patten. Is the "Aca- 

 demic" Costume Worth While: J 369 



Scientific Boohs: — 



Barrows' s Michigan Bird Life: 3. A. A. 

 Wilson and Medley's School Chemistry, 

 Hale's chemistry for Engineering Students, 

 Unger's Questions and Problems in Chem- 

 istry: J. E. G 372 



Special Articles: — 



The Temperature Coefficient of the Coag- 

 ulation caused by Ultraviolet Light: W. 

 T. BoviE 373 



The Botanical Society of America: Professor 

 George T. Moore 375 



Societies and Academies: — 



The Anthropological Society of Washing- 

 ton: Wm. H. Babcock. The Philosophical 

 Society of the University of Virginia: Pro- 

 fessor Wm. a. Kepner. The Elisha 

 Mitchell Scientific Society: Professor 

 James M. Bell 387 



MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended for 

 review should be sent to Professor J. McKeen Csttell, Garrison- 

 On-Hudson, N. Y. 



PHYSICS AND DAILY LIFE^ 

 The school system of Germany has often 

 been held up to the teachers of this country 

 as a model of perfection. Germany has 

 been called a nation of schoolmasters, and 

 the wonderful progress of its industries 

 has been attributed in no small measure to 

 the rigid training and high efficiency of its 

 gymnasia, its universities and its vocational 

 schools. Even at the present moment our 

 country is being urged on many sides to 

 establish alongside the regular public sec- 

 ondary schools an independent system of 

 vocational schools, the chief argument in 

 favor of this plan being the fact that it was 

 "made in Germany." 



Notwithstanding the fact that the repu- 

 tation of the German schools is so brilliant 

 on this side of the Atlantic, there are many 

 thoughtful and earnest dwellers in the 

 Fatherland who consider the training 

 given by their schools to be of very doubt- 

 ful educational value. Thus, some twenty 

 years ago Emperor William II. called a 

 congress of the leading schoolmen of Ger- 

 many to consider what could be done to 

 bridge the chasm that yawned so wide and 

 deep between the work of the schools and 

 the daily lives of the pupils. Little was 

 accomplished as the result of this congress. 

 The schoolmen declared it were little short 

 of sacrilege to experiment with schools, 

 which had always enjoyed a reputation for 

 perfection equaled only by that of the 

 medieval monks. Since that time, the vo- 

 cational and industrial schools of Germany 

 have developed alongside and, in large 

 'Presented at the conference of the University 

 of Illinois with the secondary schools of the state, 

 November 22, 1912. 



